What did you do today? I hexed.

As promised a blog with an update on the “Hexie Quilt”.  

It has been named…and it is

Whist Jubilance

Kind of a haughty name for such a scrappy quilt.  But there is meaning.   Basically if you break it down it’s a fancy-smancy way of saying “Quiet Joy”.  

And that is most definitely what this quilt has been.  First the quilt then the back story.

 

 

 

As I type ONE SECTION (SECTION #2) has been done!  Woot!  Well except for the appliquéing of the 1 3/8 circle in the center of each inner flower (10 have been done and you might see them randomly).  I am saving this job for later (this will make sense in a few paragraphs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is basically next to my seat in the living room where I have been spending countless hours since October 20th. I am quite organized. 

 

Side bar: my friend Brenda’s hubby makes these fantastic seam rippers…if interested you can contact Ken at the following email addy.   kenessl@cox.net

 

 

I am almost thru a second section being put together.  You might note that I am figuring out the layout of each section on the design board in my studio but sewing them together upstairs in the living room.  What gives?  The comfy cozy chair in my studio left in early October to join it’s partner and the couch in the living room of Paul & Emily’s apartment in Arkansas.  I have found a chair I like but as of right now I haven’t purchased it yet.

During the putting together of the first section I would whip stitch a few flowers together and then run downstairs for more “parts” of the section to add on.   This arrangement was not gonna happen for the remaining sections this I was sure.  Too much running.

 

So I came up with lightly taping a section of the section (how’s that for confusing) to some butcher paper and viola I have a couple hours worth of work right at my fingertips…no more stair running.

So this has been my life of late…lots of hexing.

Ironically between lots of doctors appointments and tests. I will be having some surgery later this month that will most likely put me out of commission for awhile. So if you see a few week gap in blogging well just know that I am resting well.   You can always friend me on Facebook for daily updates.

 

 

 

But in the meantime the leaf in the dining room table (the only table in this small abode) has been put back in….meaning Paul and Emily will be home soon.  

My heart is filled with more joy.

 

 

 

p.s. I am counting on doing all the center circle appliqués during my recovery. 

      How’s that for ambition!

Sometimes the “Type A Personality” slips out

 

I like things organized.   At least when the creative part of a project is over and the “get ‘er dun” part is taking place.

When I am working on a new quilt I screw around with bits and pieces testing what I see in my imagination and once I am satisfied I flip over the the “Type A” part of me and break it all down to the fast and most efficient way to progress.  

So I decided on Saturday night I was far enough into the “Hexie Quilt Project” to fall in love with it completely and thus it was time to devise a plan to bring it to completion.  I have a time table in the head…as always.  I work best with self imposed deadlines. 

This is what the final tally is in regards to pieces needed for the quilt:

Border Flowers : 42

Green Fillers : 80

Inner Pieced Flowers: 95

Odd Ball Flowers shapes : approximately 12-14 flowers total

I counted up what I had done randomly and I was just about halfway there.

I went into full pieced Hexie production on Sunday Morning.  And by Sunday late afternoon I had all the pieces cut, stripe sewn in, and ready for English Paper Piecing.  The same with the Border Flowers.  And the filler Hexies were done.  I would leave the “odd balls” to the very last to be able to play with color placement when it came to them.

I took my sketch of the finished quilt and divided it into 8 sections.  And not all sections are created equal.  Some are much bigger than others.  Trust me there is a method to my madness…when I feel a lull encroaching on this project I will put together a small section and viola the motivation to keep moving on.

Now I need to divide all the Hexie Flowers I have done and the cut flowers (but not done) so I can guarantee that fabrics and colors flow nicely across the quilt.

With masking tape, I divided the counter in the back of my studio into 8 sections. 

Then I put a note in each section with it’s assigned number and the numbers of each items (Border Flowers, Green Fillers, Inner Flowers) that is needed for completion. 

The shuffling of flowers around took less than 10 minutes.  

 

 

And lo and behold one of the smaller sections (#6) already has all the pieces needed completed…it can be put together immediately if I wished.

I elected to save it for one of the “lull periods” and am tackling section #5.   I hope to have a few sections done for you by next week….that is the plan.

p.s. Please note that the last pic is actually only about half the “items” laid out…just realized I forgot to take a final pic…but I think you get the idea.

And then there was a pattern

On Tuesday Morning I logged into Facebook to change my profile pic from “Lucy in her witch costume” (think Charlie Brown fame) to well…hmmm.

I wanted to do something to set the tone for November and the upcoming holiday of Thanksgiving.

I looked around.

Then I spotted the table runner that I created back in 2002 for a basic quilting class for exchange students that I taught at the local college.   Seems a requirement for graduation was a American Craft for these students and thus I had to develop a simple project.  Most students did not have access to a sewing machine so this pattern worked well as we spent weeks completing the appliqué and then I put together a bank of about 6 machines for one class and we sewed the entire table runner together in class and then moved on to hand quilting.  Having students for and entire semester was a new and wonderful experience.  But we are getting off the subject….so….

I snapped a picture of the center of this table runner and posted it to my fb page.  And within an hour I had two private messages asking for the pattern.  And by day’s end there were more.

So I went looking for my original pattern file.  This pattern was self published as that is pretty much required by the college system. 

 

I have self published a few patterns over the years and had be thinking about revisiting this idea with the acceptance of PDF patterns growing.

I found the disc…I was a genius on March 8, 2006 because I actually stored the pattern info in PDF form!   All I did was reshoot the pictures because technology has come a long way in digital cameras since 2001.   And viola!

“Autumn Pumpkin Harvest” table runner pattern is available to purchase on etsy at this time. You can link here or at the side of this blog.

In searching for the pattern so many other pattern ideas were unearthed.   Let’s just say I am going to be very busy.  Most of these ideas have never see life beyond these walls.  

I am a firm believer in things happen for a reason.

Stay tuned for an update on the “Hexie Quilt”…but first I need to clear off the design wall.